Apple Pear Pie — The Dessert Table Has Room for Everyone

One week. The turkey has been ordered from the butcher. The dressing cornbread is dried and waiting. The sweet potato pie filling is made and in the refrigerator. The yeast roll dough will be started Tuesday night so it rises slowly in the cold and is ready to shape Thursday morning. This is what thirty years of making Thanksgiving looks like: a sequence so internalized that the preparation is almost meditative, each step following the last without consulting a list.

Deontay passed his certification exam for nutritional counseling this week. He called me to tell me, which he didn't have to do — I am not his family, exactly, though I am beginning to believe I am something in the vicinity of it. He said, I wanted you to know because you're part of why. I said, Deontay, you did that. He said, I know, but someone has to be the door and you were the door. I told him that was a kind thing to say and I meant it and also that the door is still open and he should keep coming to Bernice's Table because we need him. He said he wasn't going anywhere. Good. We need people who stay.

James called Friday with his travel plans: he and Dorothy are coming to Tuscaloosa for Thanksgiving. Dorothy is coming. The first time I will see Dorothy since before her diagnosis. She wants to be here, James said, she has been saying it for months. She asked me to let her bring something and I said yes — I always say yes to that question because saying no refuses someone the chance to contribute, which is its own kind of welcome. She said she would bring her sweet potato pound cake. I said, Dorothy, I will clear the whole dessert table for that cake. She laughed and I knew then that she was all right. Her laugh sounds right again.

With Dorothy’s sweet potato pound cake already claimed for the dessert table, I wanted something alongside it that could hold its own without competing — something that said Thanksgiving in the way a full house does, warm and layered and a little bit of everything. This Apple Pear Pie is what I reach for in years like this one, when the week has given you more than you expected and you need a recipe that meets you where you are: reliable, fragrant, and worth every minute of the making.

Apple Pear Pie

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 package (2 sheets) refrigerated pie crust, or your favorite homemade double crust
• 3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 3 medium Bosc or Anjou pears, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
• 1 tablespoon coarse sugar (for topping)

Instructions

1. Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Fit one pie crust into a 9-inch pie dish, pressing gently into the bottom and sides without stretching. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
2. Make the filling. In a large bowl, combine the sliced apples and pears with the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Toss until every piece of fruit is evenly coated. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes so the juices begin to release.
3. Fill the crust. Remove the pie dish from the refrigerator. Pour the fruit filling into the crust, mounding it slightly in the center. Scatter the butter pieces evenly over the top of the filling.
4. Add the top crust. Lay the second pie crust over the filling. Trim any excess to a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold the edges of the top and bottom crusts together and crimp firmly to seal. Cut 4–5 small slits in the top crust to vent steam. Brush the entire surface with the beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
5. Bake. Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch any drips) and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and continue baking for 30–35 minutes more, until the crust is deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling through the vents. If the edges begin to brown too quickly, cover them loosely with foil.
6. Cool before slicing. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let it cool for at least 2 hours before cutting. This allows the filling to set so it slices cleanly rather than running.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 335 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 51g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 215mg